Review of the different HUDs in Doom

[Fox666]

Here is my review of the many HUDs in the many ports of Doom.

Original Doom HUD



This is the standard HUD in the Doom games. It display the ammo, health, armor, keycards, list of weapons, and all ammo types. Additionally there is this iconic protagonist face which is affected by the game environment.

This HUD is very functional, and shows everything you had like to know. However, while you can shrunk the screen, there is no option for a smaller HUD.

The Arms display is perhaps a little uncessary. I guess it would be good for those who played it for the first time in 1993 to have all avaiable weapon keys listed on screen? That also foreshadows the BFG, which can only be found in secret areas in the original Doom three episodes.

Also why is the Arms replaced by Frags in multiplayer? It would make more sense for it replace the keycards. Also I think there was no need for the shortened names of each kind of ammo on the right, I think the players would be smart enough to realize what each ammo is for.

Overall the HUD fullfill nearby all of your needs in the game. These big red letters are great for Doom theme, but I don't think that "concrete" texture matches Doom tone, and I would have prefered something much darker instead.

Rating: 8.0

The origin



This is Wolfenstein 3D. Among many things, the HUD was used directly as a basis for Doom.

The HUD on this game is pettry cool, but I think they had trouble thinking of what to put on it, so they choose these unnecessary Floor and weapon icon displays.



There have been multiple versions of the HUD in Doom through development. Initially Doom would be a game strongly focused on storyline, which revolves around a planet called Tai Tenga or something. This would also include the HUD, which would show the space marines helmet from inside. Luckly Doom developers gave up on storyline for the sake of gameplay.



In the almost finished version of the game you can see a Wolfenstein-like Item display, which was later replaced with Arms. I suppose items would be a single-player only feature, so it would make sense to replace it with Frags.

[Fox666]

Atari Jaguar / 3DO



The Jaguar version was the first official port of Doom to begin its development cycle, although the 32X version was released first. The 3DO, 32X, PlayStation and GBA ports are all derived from this port.

Frankly, this is awful. The texture they choose is terrible, it is blurry and distracting. Besides that Area display is unnecessary. On top of that, I think this port could have easily supported the same HUD of the PC, why they changed it?

I am surprised that something as good as the PSX port derivated from this.

The 3DO is even worse, since it stretches to the side in a weird manner, and the protagonist face has no background.

Rating: 4.0 and 3.5

Sega 32X



This one is better looking than the Jaguar or 3DO versions, but it seems to use much more space than necessary, perhaps to take the attention out of the always shrunk screen? And again, I think it would be better if they just used the original HUD.

Rating: 3.0

Playstation Doom and Final Doom



Finally we begin to see something good on the console ports! Despite being directly based on the Jaguar version, this one looks surprisingly good.

Due to the resolution of this version (256px wide), this time the lack of the ammo types display is reasonable. It shows 8 weapon numbers, 1 for the Chainsaw and 4 for Super Shotgun, and highlights the current selected weapon, which makes sense since in this port you use the buttons to cycle through weapons, instead of choosing one directly from a key.

Initially I complained about the texture of the original HUD, so now I get what I want. I strongly feel the original Doom for PC should have choose a color like this from the beggining.

While I think the HUD in the Doom is looking better than the Final Doom version, the Final Doom is clearer and matches the Doom theme even better.

Rating: 9.0 and 9.5

Doom 64



Doom 64 got completely different graphics from any other Doom, and this includes the HUD. Unlike any other Doom, this one got a HUD for full view, instead of covering the entire bottom of the screen.

This one is very functional, and shows how little information is necessary to play Doom. You have Heatlh and Armor displays on each corner of the screen, and a number on the middle of the screen that represents how much ammo you got.

These guys tried something new and achieved success.

Rating: 8.5

GBA Doom and Doom II



The GBA Doom uses mostly the same HUD as the PC, but it has weird graphics with glowing red numbers. If they tought it would make it easier for the player read it in a tiny screen, they failed miserable.

The GBA Doom II is mostly the same as the PC, despite some weird details. I had say this is an inprovement over the GBA version, and what they had go from the beggining for this and some other ports.

Rating: 4.0 and 7.0

Super Nintendo



Small, good looking and functional. I aprove this one and I think they did a good job in making it works in this small resolution (216px wide). Of course this HUD is good only for the SNES version.

Rating: 7.5

[Gez]

Fox666 said:

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h441/Fox_969/th_hudbeta2.gif

Where did you find this one?

[GreyGhost]

Here - it's from John Romero's original E1M2.

[40oz]

you're surprisingly critical of HUDs. My ideal doom hud would be full screen with nothing but the doomguys face in the bottom left corner.

[schwerpunk]

40oz said:

you're surprisingly critical of HUDs. My ideal doom hud would be full screen with nothing but the doomguys face in the bottom left corner.

Now that's interesting... Obviously, the condition of his face would change depending on his health... But what else could one add to this? Perhaps the background could change depending on his armour level; the intensity of his smile/frown the more/less ammo he has for the selected gun. The possibilities are genuinely exciting.

You probably just meant the vanilla doomguy face, but you got me thinking about all the possibilities of a full-fledged minimalistic HUD reboot.

[Technician]

40oz said:

you're surprisingly critical of HUDs. My ideal doom hud would be full screen with nothing but the doomguys face in the bottom left corner.

One person here did make a mod that did just that, I believe. The only way to monitor your health is to interpret it buy looking at the state of the mugshot.

[Clonehunter]

Hm, what would be cool now is a mod where you can switch between the different huds all represented here, if one doesn't exist already.

[myk]

Fox666 said:
The Arms display is perhaps a little uncessary. I guess it would be good for those who played it for the first time in 1993 to have all avaiable weapon keys listed on screen?

Yes, some of the data may be somewhat redundant to us nowadays, but they were developing the game mainly for new players which they probably didn't expect to be playing it for decades. I still like the arms data because in a longer play-through of a level set I don't always remember which weapons I have. The SSG isn't marked by it, though, which makes it a bit better in DOOM than in DOOM II.

In the almost finished version of the game you can see a Wolfenstein-like Item display, which was later replaced with Arms.

It also included a console which would appear when activated by an action (pick-ups, key requirements or chat.) They presumably removed it because the text was small and ugly and because the red text on top that replaced it helped keep your view centered more easily rather than squinting down occasionally.



To be exact, the status bar is not part of the HUD, which is data written directly over the player's view as in warplanes and other vehicles. The small red font on top is the actual "HUD material" in DOOM, and the status bar is like the thin status bar on browsers and other programs, which gives some current data but is a separate part of the view area rather than overlaid info.

[DuckReconMajor]

I like these writeups. I thought when you said ports though you were going to rate the boom hud, the minimal hud in some source ports, etc. What is your opinion on those?

[40oz]

schwerpunk said:

Now that's interesting... Obviously, the condition of his face would change depending on his health... But what else could one add to this? Perhaps the background could change depending on his armour level; the intensity of his smile/frown the more/less ammo he has for the selected gun. The possibilities are genuinely exciting.

You probably just meant the vanilla doomguy face, but you got me thinking about all the possibilities of a full-fledged minimalistic HUD reboot.

The only thing I'd add is the ability to see the keys in your inventory. Playing with no HUD creates the illusion of having infinite ammo and 1% health at all times. Depending on how recklessly you play, the values of health and ammo fluctuate a lot, so it's rare that a health or ammo pickup will be completely wasted. Usually you can tell when you need to be a little more vigilant of what you consume when you can't pickup anymore stimpacks or shotguns left behind.

Technician said:

One person here did make a mod that did just that, I believe. The only way to monitor your health is to interpret it buy looking at the state of the mugshot.

Yeah but it's for ZDoom. I believe JDoom has that option too. Neither of which are source ports I use.

[ducon]

PrBoom has this kind of HUD: there are different possible positions for the parts (up right, down right, down left…)

[StevieWolfe]

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h441/Fox_969/hudbeta1.gif

That was always my personal favorite.

[DoomUK]

40oz said:

you're surprisingly critical of HUDs. My ideal doom hud would be full screen with nothing but the doomguys face in the bottom left corner.

Except I need to know how much ammo I have. Doomguy's face is a novel way of giving you the same information that the health percentage does, so I could live with one or the other.

[The Doomist]

schwerpunk said:

Now that's interesting... Obviously, the condition of his face would change depending on his health... But what else could one add to this? Perhaps the background could change depending on his armour level; the intensity of his smile/frown the more/less ammo he has for the selected gun. The possibilities are genuinely exciting.

You probably just meant the vanilla doomguy face, but you got me thinking about all the possibilities of a full-fledged minimalistic HUD reboot.

That is actually a good idea. I always thought that the Status Bar Face gave some of the atmosphere in the game. He 'showed' you where the enemy is coming from, shows you the health, god mode, just, so much. I always found it fun just to see what he does.

[K3K]

StevieCybernetik said:

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h441/Fox_969/hudbeta1.gif

That was always my personal favorite.

I lke that HUD also, but the fact that the "Helmet" takes up alot of your screen sorta makes it a bit "meh" for me. Either way, that's still a pretty cool beta for the HUD.